GAME 21 - April 22: Three in a Row

Houston 11, San Diego 7

Quote of the Day: "Count this one as one of those "ugly" wins." (Alyson Footer, Astros.com)

With all due respect to Alyson - who is probably my favorite non-fiction writer - this was not an "ugly" game. Granted, there were a few minutes of bona fide ugliness, as Brocail threw away Backe's nice start in the 8th. Backe had pitched 5 shutout innings before giving the Padres a 3-2 lead on a 3-run home run in the 6th. But he finished the inning, and went on to knock out the side in the 7th on 10 pitches. Meanwhile, the Astros scored 2 in the bottom of the 6th to regain the lead, and 3 more runs in the 7th to give Backe a comfortable 7-3 lead. With Brocail, who had been nearly lights out in his earlier relief appearances, coming in to pitch, it looked like a likely W for Backe. But Brocail allowed the first 4 Padres to hit for the cycle in the 8th - a single, double, homer, and triple, to make it a 1-run game.

I had to groan when I saw Valverde take the field, given his bad luck so far this season. He gave up a walk and then a sac fly that scored the runner on third to tie the game. Sorry, Backe.

But then the Astros came back in the bottom of the inning to earn all the runs back, and Valverde pitched a perfect ninth to get the win - his third of the season. He actually did look like a closer.

What did I say yesterday - if the big guys could all get hot at the plate at the same time, last night's double-digit game would not be an aberration? Tonight's game was a perfect illustration: Another 4 for 5 game for Tejada, pulling his BA up to .370. Berkman was on base 4 times, with a triple, a single, and two walks, breaking .300. Pence hit his first home run of the season, and Matsui, Erstad, and Blum all had multi-hit games. In all, a season-high 11 runs on a season-high 15 hits. All in all, it's hard to really say that was "ugly," especially when the Astros got their third win in a row.

Fashion Statement: The Astros wore green caps for Earth Day. Not a really great look; they kind of disappeared into the turf.